The fifth of the eight Rolex Series events takes place on the European mainland this week as the tour heads to one the great capital cities for the Italian Open in Rome.
The winners so far of these big-money purses: Shane Lowry (Abu Dhabi), Jon Rahm (Irish Open), Bernd Wiesberger (Scottish Open) and Danny Willett (BMW PGA Championship).
Three of those four head to Olgiata GC in Italy although Rahm, the new Race to Dubai leader, rests up after defending his home Open de Espana crown in convincing style last week.
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It means Open champ Lowry has the opportunity to return to No. 1 with a big display here.
Olgiata last hosted this event in 2002 when Ian Poulter took the title and that’s a reminder that the 2022 Ryder Cup also takes place in Rome. Not at this week’s venue but at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club which is about half an hour away.
Francesco Molinari is the local hero this week and he’ll be joined several team-mates from the last Ryder Cup including Paul Casey and Justin Rose.
The Course
It’s what we would expect in Italy – a tree-lined, parkland venue. Perhaps it was no surprise that Ian Poulter should win here when it last played host to a European Tour event in 2002 given that he was the pro at Woburn GC (also tree-lined). The course measures a fairly lengthy 7,523 yards and is a par 71. On the outward nine there are back-to-back par 4s measuring over 480 yards and a 498-yard par 4 at 8. Coming home, the par 5s at 15 (568 yards) and 17 (533 yards) look gettable before the 468-yard par-4 closer.
Recent Italian Open winners
2018 (-22, 262) Thorbjorn Olesen – 5th European Tour win
2017 (-21, 263) Tyrrell Hatton – 3rd European Tour win
2016 (-22, 262) Francesco Molinari – 4th European Tour win
2015 (-19, 269) Rikard Karlberg – 1st European Tour win
2014 (-20, 268) Hennie Otto – 3rd European Tour win
2002 Italian Open at Olgiata
-19 Ian Poulter
-17 Paul Lawrie
-15 Anthony Wall, Emanuele Canonica, Anders Hansen
-14 Padraig Harrington, Barry Lane, Angel Cabrera, Jarrod Moseley
* Tournament was reduced to 54 holes so scoring very low
However, it’s staged five Challenge Tour events and scoring got harder each time:
2015 (-5) Matteo Delpodio
2014 (-9) Ricardo Gouveia
2011 (-11) Sam Little
2010 (-19) Andreas Harto
2009 (-21) Edoardo Molinari
The Weather
It’s a week of sunshine in Rome, with temperatures in the high 70s over all four days. Winds are light although there could be a bit of breeze on Thursday afternoon although only 9mph.
The Leading Contenders
This is Casey’s first start on Italian soil but he arrives in great heart after September yielded a victory in the European Open in Germany followed by a strong display at Wentworth (T11). He drove the ball long and straight in both which will work well here and a good putting week will make him a very likely title contender.
It’s a third European Tour start in a row for Rose, who contended at Wentworth (T8) before being blown off course at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to finish T34 after a fine start. He did actually play Olgiata back in 2002 but missed the cut (74-70). His only other appearances in this event came before that (T21 2000, MC 2001). The Englishman has been ranked outside the top 30 for GIR in four of his last five events so needs to sharpen the iron play up.
He’s a two-time winner of his home Open (2006 and 2016) and has finished sixth and runner-up the last two years. Molinari also played the 2002 edition here at Olgiata, finishing a creditable T23, while he’s made the top 20 in 12 of the last 14 Italian Opens so is a real stud in his homeland. T23 at the Safeway Open which followed T14 at Wentworth suggests he’ll be a presence again.
The Irishman has a T13 in one of his two Italian Open starts (2012 at Royal Park) and was T6 the last time he contested the Sicilian Open (also 2012). After a couple of months to drink in his Open glory, Lowry has posted T11 at Wentworth and T15 at the Alfred Dunhill Links so there’s no resting-on-laurels doubts; he’s raring to go again.
Willett has some very big wins amongst the trees having triumphed at Augusta National and Wentworth so the visuals should suit him. No surprise then that he’s excelled on these type of Italian tracks, his form in this event reading 3-2-MC-8 over the last four years, three of those at Milano and the other at Gardagolf. The Wentworth win (2nd GIR), of course, came just a few weeks ago when he held off Jon Rahm and he backed that up with T26 at the Alfred Dunhill Links.
Fitzpatrick has some sneaky course form courtesy of the second tier’s EMC Golf Challenge Open and it’s positive as he overcame a slow start to finish T7. That adds to a record in this event which shows 3-16-15-30 so he’s a fan of Italian courses. We’ve perhaps expected more of him in recent events since he finished runner-up in Sweden at the end of August but T26 at the Alfred Dunhill Links suggests he’s going in the right direction again.
A long, straight driver of the ball, who loves Italy. Yes please. Wallace won three Alps Tour events in Italy, took fourth in his one Challenge Tour event played there and was also fourth in this event at Milano GC in 2017. Third at the KLM when not at his best, T41 at Wentworth and T15 at the Alfred Dunhill Links. We know he’ll give this his full attention with Ryder Cup and Race to Dubai points up for grabs.
Won this event at Milano in 2017 after closing 64-65-65 over his last 54 holes although missed the cut (72-69) when defending at Gardagolf last year. After a forgettable Wentworth (73-79), he found some form again in one of his favorite events when T15 at the Alfred Dunhill Links, ranking fourth in Scrambling. A little hit-and-miss but plenty of upside.
Just one top ten in ten starts in Italy down the years although that was second place in the Challenge Tour’s San Domenico Grand Final while he was a respectable T23 at Gardagolf last June. T11 at the Open followed by T12 at the WGC-St. Jude represented a turn in form after a poor stretch and he’s further reminded us that he was a top ten player in the OWGR not so long ago with T28 at Wentworth and T15 in the Alfred Dunhill Links.
The winner the last time this course staged the event in 2002 and, weirdly, he’s also the DC at the Golf Club of Houston which hosts on the PGA TOUR this week. However, Poulter can’t be in two places at once so he returns to Italy. A look at his record in the country tells you why: this is a great opportunity to bank some Ryder Cup/Race to Dubai points. Poults has made seven starts in the country and has two wins, four other top eights (including this event last year) and T18. A modest T60 at Wentworth last time but has two top tens in his last four starts (WGC-St. Jude and The Northern Trust).
